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MISSION

The Great Lakes Bulletin offers in-depth reporting and reasoned analysis about Michigan's land use issues to inspire citizens to become more involved in designing their own communities. It is published by the Michigan Land Use Institute, an independent, nonprofit organization that conducts research and works with policy makers and citizens to help foster a new approach to economic development that respects the land, the community that inhabits the land, and the inherent process of change.

P.O. Box 228 845 Michigan Avenue Benzonia, MI 49616 Tel. 231-882-4723 Fax 231-882-7350 KEITH SCHNEIDER Executive Director HANS VOSS Managing Director PUBLICATIONS LECLAIR STOLTMANN Web Editor Production Manager AIMÉ MERIZON Associate Editor PROJECTS ARLIN WASSERMAN Policy Specialist PATTY CANTRELL Economic Analyst KELLY THAYER Transportation Project Coordinator MEMBER SERVICES ANNE STANTON Outreach Director ALICIA HARRISON Office Manager DEB NEGRI-JACKSON Administrative Assistant Member Services Coordinator SPECIAL REPORTS FLORENCE BARONE Editor CONTRACT SUPPORT SASKIA VAN WOLFEREN CHRIS ALDRICH ROB ALDRICH JIM STAMM Computer Services GAIL DENNIS Graphic Design BOARD OF DIRECTORS BOB SUTHERLAND Chair DEBORAH J. ROHE Secretary RICHARD J. HITCHINGHAM Treasurer GARY APPEL JON ARMSTRONG R.T. CURRAN PRESTON V. DILTS, JR., M.D. JAMES C. GANTER PATRICK M. MCCOOL ROBERT OTWELL VIRGINIA B. PIERCE KEITH SCHNEIDER HOWARD A. TANNER KAREN WILLARD TIMOTHY YOUNG GENERAL COUNSEL JAMES M. OLSON JOHN D. NOONAN Cover photograph of Grand Rapids' McKay Tower reflected in National City Building by Patrick Owen.

FROM THE FIELD

Home Is Where the Activism Is

Patty Cantrell

By PATTY CANTRELL One of the most difficult things I had to do, before leaving Missouri last summer to start my job at the Michigan Land Use Institute, was explain to my rural family and friends what I thought I'd be doing as an environmental activist. My family has lived in and farmed the Ozark hills ever since the wagon wheel broke in Missouri on our way out of Kentucky. I know my aunts, uncles, and cousins love the spring-fed creeks and the wildlife in the woods. I also know the farmers among them have no patience for environmentalists telling them how to spread manure. It was not surprising, then, when one uncle asked me, "Are you going to be one of those people who puts dairy farmers out of business for a few cows crossing the creek?" I didn't know what to say. A few cows crossing the creek is not a big problem to my knowledge. But hundreds of cows in the creek, or the manure from thousands of hogs and chickens threatening rivers or terrorizing neighbors, is. I think my uncle would agree. But I worried this winter, as I investigated pollution at livestock farms and factories, what my uncle would say about my muck-raking? Would he think I was slinging mud at family farmers or getting to the bottom of a deep, political cesspool? Farms or Factories? I found in my review of internal Michigan Department of Agriculture documents that the agency routinely ignores complaints about potential and actual manure spills at livestock operations. I also learned that state regulators and industry lobbyists are fighting any regulation of livestock factories, which generate more sewage than good-size cities. They claim voluntary guidelines and the complaint response program — which I found defective — are all Michigan needs to manage the industrial wastes and odors. The guidelines and complaint program are part of the Michigan Right to Farm Act, which was intended to protect traditional farmers from suburban sensitivities. I found that the state is now using the law to give cover to livestock factories as they push into rural areas. I thought quite a bit about my uncle's words as I worked. I remembered my own days bottle-feeding calves and watching half my relatives get up and leave Grandma 's house on Sunday afternoons because it was time for the evening milking. Then I recalled the reason few families like mine are still farming: low factory outlet prices. I decided to keep on raking the muck because I think my family knows who's really putting farmers and rural communities out of business: High financial interests that are using the farmer' s good name to spread the manure on thick. For a startling lesson in the corporate economics that family farmers are up against, and how you can help change things with your purchasing power, see Patty's Public Trust Alliance project update on pages 23 and 24.